USPS Commends the Time of the Chicken with New Always StampsThe U.S. Postal Service™ commends the Lunar New Year with another delightful stamp in the arrangement. The Forever® stamp commends the time of the chicken which starts on Saturday, January 28 this year.The Year of the Chicken Always stamp was committed on January 5 in Seattle Washington and is the principal stamp to be issued in 2017. “Today’s occasion is critical, not just in light of the fact that it’s our first stamp devotion of the new schedule year, additionally on the grounds that it allows the Postal Administration to strengthen our dedication to observe America’s awesome assorted qualities through our stamps,” said Western Region Operations VP, Greg Graves, who committed the stamp.The Postal Administration presented the Observing Lunar New Year arrangement in 2008 and will proceed with the through 2019 finishing up with years of the pooch and the hog. The principal arrangement, Lunar New Year, was presented in 1992 with the time of the chicken and kept running until 2004. Trinket sheets of every one of the 12 stamps of the principal arrangement were discharged in 2005 and 2006.Considered the most critical occasion of the year for some Asian people group Far and wide, the Lunar New Year is commended essentially by individuals of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.The Lunar New Year, which falls on the new moon between January 21st and February twentieth, is otherwise called “Chinese New Year”, “Spring Celebration” and “New Year Festival.”In the Assembled States and somewhere else, the event is set apart in different ways: Celebrations incorporate parades highlighting tremendous and dynamically painted papier-mâché mythical serpents, parties and other uncommon occasions. Merchants at open air markets offer blooms, toys, nourishment and then some. Artists play drums to commend a period of recharged seek after what’s to come. Numerous families introduce red envelopes (hongbao), like the one portrayed in the stamp workmanship, containing cash to kids and friends and family.

Year of the Chicken Everlastingly stamp now availableThe Year of the Chicken Perpetually stamp is being issued as a trinket sheet of 12 self-cement Always Stamps . The stamp configuration consolidates components from the past arrangement of Lunar New Year stamps, including a perplexing cut-paper outline of a chicken and the Chinese character – attracted grass-style calligraphy – for “rooster.”Art executive Ethel Kessler took a shot at the arrangement with artist Kam Mak, a Hong Kong-conceived craftsman who experienced childhood in New York City’s Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn. The work of art concentrates on a portion of the regular ways the Lunar New Year occasion is celebrated.For the Time of the Chicken, the outline — initially made utilizing oil paints on board — delineates a brilliant chicken embellished on a red envelope. The shading red symbolizes fortunes in Chinese culture, while chicken symbolism is regularly used to avert underhanded spirits.The characters at the highest point of the envelope frame a typical Chinese welcome of festivity and wish for flourishing and favorable luck, utilized most habitually amid the Lunar New Year.Share the news of the stamp utilizing the hashtag #LunarNewYear.

Requesting First-Day-of-Issue PostmarksCustomers have 60 days to acquire first-day-of-issue stamps via mail. They may buy new stamps at nearby Post Workplaces, at the Postal Store™ or by calling800-STAMP-24. They ought to attach their preferred stamps to envelopes, deliver the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in envelopes tended to to:Year of the Chicken Stamp Satisfaction Administrations Cancelation Services8300 NE Underground Drive,Pillar 210 Kansas City, MO 64144-9998After applying the principal day-of-issue stamp, the Postal Administration will give back the envelopes through the mail. There is no energize for stamps to an amount of 50. For more than 50, clients are charged 5 pennies each. All requests must be stamped by Walk 5, 2017.

Like most things in the Postal Service, city letter carriers’ uniforms have a long history. The first official uniforms were introduced in 1868, and required that a full coat and pants be worn at all times. Over the years, the uniform was expanded to allow more authorized options like shorts and short-sleeved shirts.The blue-grey fabric used helped identify a letter carrier at first glance, and items like badges and, later, emblem patches, provided further identification.Though women make up more than 44 percent of USPS employees today, at one time the uniform requirement actually prevented their employment as city letter carriers.

In 1917, when women were first tested as city letter carriers, they wore men’s regulation coats and caps with their own skirts.

Women could not wear pants in public because the simple act of doing so could lead to ridicule, or even arrest in some places. During the world wars, when women temporarily filled positions typically held by men, the rules were “quietly ignored” to allow them to deliver in skirts. Starting in the 50s, skirts were formally made part of the uniform and a few years later, pants were allowed, further opening the door for women city letter carriers.Besides removing some of the harsher restrictions, today’s uniform looks a bit different and allows even more options for comfortable delivery. But the postal blue in your neighborhood remains the same!For more postal history — including more on uniforms — visit “Who We Are: Our History.” uniform2By 1967, uniform regulations included garments tailored specifically for women.

Several Logos, Mottos have Represented USPS Through the YearsThe Postal Service’s iconic blue and white eagle isn’t the only insignia that has represented the organization throughout its history.In 1782, Postmaster General Ebenezer Hazard chose Mercury, the Greek messenger of the gods, to represent the organization.Hazard placed the divine deity on top of a globe, with his right hand raised, and gave wings to his feet, helmet and staff. He was encircled with the Latin inscription, “Seal of the Office of the General Messenger.”Fifty-five years later, the seal changed to portray a “Post Horse in speed.” The image depicted a mail carrier riding a horse with mailbags, surrounded by the words “Post Office Department, United States of America.” Postmaster General Amos Kendall wanted the seal to be a modern representation of human effort.The “Post Horse” seal served as the official logo until 1970, when President Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act and the familiar bald eagle claimed the spotlight. The eagle is pictured in flight above the inscription “U.S. Mail®” with nine five-pointed stars at the base and “United States Postal Service®” around three sides.In 1993, Postmaster General Marvin Runyon introduced a new corporate logo — a white eagle’s head on a blue background. However, the traditional 1970 eagle remains the Postal Service’s official seal.Contrary to popular belief, USPS® doesn’t have an official motto.The familiar saying, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” was written by Herodotus, describing postal couriers during the expedition of the Greeks against the Persians around 500 B.C.It’s inscribed on the front of the James A. Farley Building in New York City, formerly the home of the city’s main Post Office™.Of course, just because the motto isn’t official doesn’t mean it isn’t true.